flyingdutch <[email hidden]> wrote in
message
news:<[email hidden]>... [snip]
Quoted message said:Just to throw a tidbit re who's fault it is if someone
pulls out, if you are invoolved in a collision and it is
deemed reasonable that you were not able/not enough time
to react despite identifying the likelihood of said
collision, you are NOT at fault (jumping in front of Bus
scenario, pulling out of sidestreet inside 10 metres of
oncoming traffic, etc). That's the word from 'Blue' mate i
just got off the phone with (incidentally, he's a
motorbike cop who pushes traffic light buttons along Beach
Rd - Hitchy?)
I'll second that... In another life I was doing research
on behalf of an insurance company, examining car
accident claims.
As far as insurance goes, if you break the law and the
other person doesn't, you're almost surely liable (not
always, but mostly).
If you both break the law, (such as fail to give way and the
other person speeding), the responsibility is more likely to
be shared. The magistrate ultimately allocates proportions
of the damages to the parties, depending on the share of
responsibility. There is no black-letter law (so to speak)
on allocating the shares of responsibility, but there are
generally very strong precedents. In the example, the share
of blame starts off with the person that failed right of way
and is then shifted to the speeder, depending on how fast
they were going.
Ritch.
